News, information and commentary related to religion... at times not so clearly.

March 25, 2013

newSpin 130325

newSpin, the newsletterMarch 25, 2013, Monday in Holy WeekBill LewellisPublished on MondayOccasionally, abbreviated, also on Thursday

TopSpin• Welcome to Now, by Anna Tjeltveit ... [The Morning Call] As community members took turns pleading with Allentown School District officials on Thursday night to reconsider proposed cuts to music and art, Raub Middle School student Anna Tjeltveit waited for her turn. After about two hours of listening to others, Anna finally heard her name called. The sixth-grader walked to the microphone at the front of Trexler Middle School Auditorium and read the following poem: "Welcome to Now" By Anna Tjeltveit ... They took away our future, When they took away the arts. Read on. [Anna is the daughter of The Rev. Maria and Alan Tjeltveit. Well done, Anna. Congratulations.]

• Interview with ABC Justin Welby ... [Religion&Ethics]Reconciliation is extraordinarily painful for those involved in the conflict. It’s not a magic wand that you wave over people, and suddenly everyone’s
happy, and when they are I’m usually slightly suspicious. True reconciliation requires courage, honesty and integrity. Here. [Episcopal Café]Welby enthroned as ABC.

• High Court will hear arguments in two gay marriage cases ... [HuffPost] A line began forming at the Supreme Court this past Thursday for people who want to attend Tuesday's arguments in two gay marriage cases. More here. Also, Resources for Reporters here. NYTimes Q&A here.

• DioLight ... On Wednesday, March 13, Bishop sent to all parishes a mailing called DioLight.
This is to be treated as a Pastoral Letter from the Bishop, which must,
by canon, be shared with the parish on Sunday. This will be sent biweekly. While Pastoral Letters
are usually read at all Sunday services, Bishop Paul asks that DioLight be: (1)
printed and put into the Sunday bulletins as an insert, (2) distributed
through email lists, (3) delivered to the sick and shut in on pastoral
visits. Each edition of DioLight will be sent
electronically to arrive by Wednesday. It will contain a word of
encouragement from the Bishop, a note about ministry in the diocese, and
brief news. DioLight will contain plenty of Good News. Please share it intentionally and abundantly. Read the first issue here.

• Sermon at the Chrism Mass
... [John R. Francis, rector, Christ Church Reading] Eight years
ago this past January, I rode into Reading, Berks County, from the badlands of
Philadelphia and the Diocese of Pennsylvania, to be received by the lovely flock
of Jesus at Christ Church and the Diocese of Bethlehem with its very stellar
bishop. The quite attractive brown stone and red brick bell tower and church
edifice, housed a cheery, bright white interior, with a classic Anglican style choir
and high altar. I suddenly realized I was in Oxford-Movement heaven. Of course
I was relieved that the altar was already free-standing. So immediately I began
to read about and reflect upon the hard labor of all my predecessors and their
clergy assistants and associates. Read on.

• Trinity Soup Kitchen serves more than 150 people daily ... [Marcie Lightwood, Trinity social worker]
Trinity has been serving Bethlehem's most disadvantaged people for more
than 32 years. We provide a hot meal with fresh fruit, salad, dessert,
bread and main dish every weekday, even holidays. We get donations from
area grocery stores, which we put out for folks to take home. Over the
past five years, our numbers have gone from about 80 guests a day to
more than 150 people every day now. Our contributions have stayed
stable, but our costs are way up. We are $20,000 behind for this year,
and we are looking for monetary help from area foundations. Due to the
economy, so is everyone else. The guests also need non-food items,
especially: Deodorant, Shampoo & conditioner, Body Wash/Soap,
Disposable razors, Toilet paper, Diapers (mostly larger sizes), Women's
sanitary supplies. Drop items off at Trinity Episcopal Church, 44
E. Market Street. Everyone is welcome to eat with us; you may come and
see this mission of mercy with your own eyes if you wish. We serve from
12 - 1 every weekday. Someone is at the church Monday through Friday
from 8:45 a.m. to 2 p.m., and of course, on Sunday mornings. I also
would be glad to come speak to any group in your congregation.

SoulSpin• A virtual Stations of the Cross
... [Episcopal Diocese of Alabama] The Diocese of Alabama plans to
provide a virtual Stations of the Cross via our Twitter
(https://twitter.com/DioAlaNews) and Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com/dioala) accounts. Each hour beginning at 7:00
a.m. CDT March 29, we will tweet, and post to our Facebook page via
HootSuite, one of the 14 traditional Stations of the Cross. We are
inviting folks to take a moment to read and silently reflect on the
passion and death of our Lord. Those who would like to share a personal
reflection will be invited to do so by tweeting, or appending a short
reflection as a comment to the station on our Facebook page. The hourly
posts will be drawn, with permission (following payment of a small fee),
from the Book of Occasional Services.

• The limitations of being 'spiritual but not religious' ... [Time] Institutions, not abstract feelings, tie a community together and lead to meaningful change, says Rabbi David Wolpe. Read on.• The Book of Common Prayer ... every edition from 1549 to 1979. Here.• Prayers and Thanksgivings from the BCP. Here.• The Daily Office ... can be read online in Rite I, Rite II or the New Zealand Prayer Book versions. At Mission St. Clare.• Holy Women, Holy Men ... Download Holy Women, Holy Men as a .pdf file.• Speaking to the Soul ... An Episcopal Café blog. Sermons, reflections, multimedia meditations and excerpts from books on spirituality. Here.

DioBethSpin• Changes in Health Insurance Coverage for all Clergy and Lay Employees of the Diocese of Bethlehem ... [The Diocesan Insurance Committee and the Archdeacon] We have been hearing for some time that the Episcopal Church's Medical Trust has been crafting a denominational health insurance plan. General Convention requires that we participate. The Diocese of Bethlehem is among the many dioceses that are part of this new initiative. The Diocesan Insurance Committee has been working with Church Pension Group for many months to design a plan that will give us excellent coverage at reduced costs, since the "pool" of people is now the whole church. In the next few weeks, those of you who are already covered by the diocesan health insurance plan will be receiving a letter from CPG about your new plan, with instructions for enrolling dependents The new plan is scheduled to take effect June 1, 2013. Please keep watch for this letter, and act speedily, so we can get you all enrolled. Parishes which are not now members of the diocesan plan will have the opportunity to join after we process current enrollees. All clergy and lay employees of the Diocese of Bethlehem who receive health insurance must be enrolled in the denominational health plan by the end of 2013. Much more information will be forthcoming.

• In-Formation in Bethlehem ... Canon Anne Kitch's March monthly newsletter on Christian formation. Includes ten formation ideas for any parish. Here.• Is it business ... or personal? ... [Bill Lewellis]
They called him "Shim." Great fun, at his expense. He lived in a shack
along a highway. When I was a child, he was a customer and the butt of
jokes in the neighborhood bar my parents owned and operated. I did not,
until years later, realize why they called him Shim. There was no
partition between the side room of tables and the community bar.
Families frequented the side room. A First-Communion party took place
there for me and my classmates. The place was a small-town Cheers, where
everybody knows your name. As a child, I had easy access from our
kitchen and living quarters. I thought of our customers as my friends.
My father was bartender and bouncer. In his kingdom, he made the rules;
he enforced them, as required, with warnings, fists or club. Read on at The Morning Call or the newSpin blog.• PA Council of Churches ministry of public advocacy ... [Diana Marshall] March 22 news and action summary here.

• A church crisis requires a communication plan ... [United Methodist Reporter] Crisis communication is never easy -- and it's even less easy when you pretend that it would never happen in "my" church. Read on.

• Christophany ... [Ellyn Siftar, Missioner for Youth and Young Adult Ministries] A
Christophany is an appearance, or non-physical manifestation, of
Christ. The Christophany retreat weekend for youth in grades 6-12 will
take place Friday to Sunday, April 19-21, at Pocono Plateau Retreat Center in Cresco. Our mission is related to
our theme, SPARKED! Over these three days we will learn about God's love
for us and how to bring that love into the world as we spend time in
nature in the lovely Pocono mountains and come to know each other
better. Each year the youth council chooses a mission and this year's
outreach project will be to collect items for the Middle School Mission
Team this summer. Online registration at diobeth.org. Further details later. More info here. and here. Also, see the wish list for the Christophany Outreach Project here. What is Christophany? Here.

• Disaster Preparedness Training
... April 27, 10:00 a.m., St. George's Regional Disaster and Recovery
Center, Nanticoke. Registrations may be made for the workshop by
emailing
jmajordiobetherd@hotmail.com.

• Stewardship and Evangelism Conference ... May 18, St. Stephen's Wilkes-Barre. Online registration will open April 1 at diobeth.org.

ParishSpin• Allentown/Bethlehem ... Social ministries at St. Andrew's. Here.• Allentown ... Social ministries at Grace. Here.• Athens ... Social ministries at Trinity. Here.• Bethlehem ... Social ministries at Cathedral Church of Nativity. Here.• Bethlehem ... Social ministries at Trinity. Here.• Douglassville ... Social ministries at St. Gabriel's. Here.• Easton ... Social ministries at Trinity. Here.• Glenburn/Clarks Summit ... Social ministries at Epiphany. Here.• Forest City ... Social ministries at Christ Church. Here.• Hazleton ... Social ministries at St. Peter's. Here.• Hellertown ... Social ministries at St. George's. Here.• Honesdale ... Social ministries at Grace. Here.• Jermyn ... Social ministries at St. James-St. George. Here.• Kutztown ... Social ministries at St. Barnabas. Here.• Moscow ... Social ministries at St. Mark's. Here.• Mt. Pocono ... Social ministries at Trinity. Here.• North Parish ... Social ministries at the three churches. Here.• Pottsville ... Social ministries at Trinity. Here.• Reading ... Social ministries at Christ Church. Here.• Sayre ... Social ministries at Church of the Redeemer. Here.• Susquehanna ... Social ministries at Christ Church. Here.• Troy ... Social ministries at St. Paul's. Here.• Tunkhannock ... Social ministries at St. Peter's. Here.• West Pittston ... Social ministries at Trinity. Here.• Wilkes-Barre ... Social ministries at St. Stephen's. Here.[Highlighting parish social ministries will be a continuing item.Send corrections and additions to blewellis@diobeth.org.]

• Whitehall
... [Bishop Paul] You may know that Fr. Frank St. Amour
announced his resignation at St. Stephen's, Whitehall, early last month.
After working with the vestry and having had input from parishioners, I
have appointed the Rev. Charles Warwick to serve as Vicar at St.
Stephen's, beginning on April 8. I ask your thanksgivings for the gifts
Fr. St. Amour brought to the parish, and ask your prayers for Father
Warwick and his ministry with in Whitehall. And blessings to all as we
strive together to make Christ's life our own. More here.

• Tai Chi and Qigong at Trinity Bethlehem
... [Thomas Ardizzone] Weekly informal gatherings practicing Tai Chi
and Qigong are held at Trinity Episcopal Church (44 E. Market St.,
Bethlehem, PA), 2nd floor chapel, Saturdays, at 10 AM. This peaceful
hour spent in contemplative movement can help reduce stress and anxiety
and increase flexibility and balance. Sessions are free and open to the
public. Donations go to the church’s soup kitchen. For more information
contact: Tom Ardizzone at: lvtaichi@gmail.com.

• Note to parishes ... Post news summaries and links on Bakery or send them to Bill.

Rest in peace• Gordon Cosby (1918-2013)
... [Patheos] Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove remembers Church of the Savior co-founder Gordon Cosby, who died in Washington, D.C. last week at age 95. Here. Also, from the WaPo archives, fueling a revolution in faith-based activism.

• Athena Bozakis ... [Michael Piovane, St. Anne's Trexlertown] Please pray for Athena Bozakis who died March 20 at Lehigh Valley Hospital. After 20 years of coping with serious illnesses, she is now in the loving care of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Kindly keep her family your prayers as they grieve her loss.

Episcopal/Anglican (beyond DioBeth)• National Cathedral dean on guns, church and gay marriage ... [NPR] The National Cathedral is at the forefront of a campaign for tighter gun
laws. It's also taken a leading role in advocating marriage rights for
gays and lesbians, and at the center of all these discussions is the
relatively new dean of the cathedral, the Very Reverend Gary Hall. Read on.

TaleSpin• An infant universe, born before we knew ... [NYTimes]Astronomers released the latest and most exquisite baby picture yet of
the universe on Thursday, one that showed it to be 80 to 100 million
years older and a little fatter, with more light and dark matter than
previously thought, and perhaps ever so slightly lopsided. Recorded by the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite, the image is a
heat map of the cosmos as it appeared only 370,000 years after the Big
Bang, showing space speckled with faint spots from which galaxies would
grow over billions of years. Read on.• Our God is undocumented ... [HuffPost] The practice of hospitality, especially to strangers (the Bible's term
for outsiders or people not of your tribe, clan or national group), is
one of the most central teachings of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. ... The Bible portrays God as undocumented, standing with the undocumented
foreigner and stranger, unwilling to be domesticated by any national or
imperial agenda.* God stands outside of Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian,
Greek and Roman imperial narratives and calls people to a humanity
beyond these divisions. Even when God's people have ignored this
calling, the ideal of a community whose care and compassion goes beyond
their national borders is impossible to avoid in the Bible. More here.

• Jim McGreevey needs your approval ... [New York magazine, Carl Swanson] Alexandra Pelosi, who specializes in making documentaries about “broken men,” made one about this one, called Fall to Grace, that
HBO will air on March 28. Pelosi approached McGreevey and his partner,
money manager Mark O’Donnell, three years ago, having followed the story
in the tabloids—the coming out, the so-far unfulfilled bid for
priesthood, the ugly divorce where his wife accused him of “fraud.”
“Alexandra was relentless. She sent me a card with some witty
script across the face of it,” McGreevey tells me. They turned her
down, he says, but they became friends. “Then she started showing up.”
McGreevey invited her to his house for a party, then to see his work
with Integrity House, where he counsels women in prison and helps them
rebuild their lives when they get out. It’s become a second calling to
him, helping others get over the mistakes of their lives. Read on.

• On coming out in the political spotlight ... [Yale Daily News, Will Portman] "I came to Yale as a freshman in the fall of 2010 with two big uncertainties hanging over my head: whether my dad would get elected to the Senate in November, and whether I'd ever work up the courage to come out of the closet," writes Will Portman, the son of influential Ohio Senator Rob Portman, who on March 15, in advance of this week's hearings at the Supreme Court on Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act, announced his support for marriage equality, in a column referring to his son coming out to him and his wife in 2011. In today's column, the younger Portman weighs the burden of his father's public life against the opportunity to advance the rights of gay people. "I could certainly do without ... commentators weighing in to tell me things like living my life honestly and fully is 'harmful to [me] and society as a whole.' But in many ways it’s been a privilege to come out so publicly," he writes. "I hope that my dad’s announcement and our family’s story will have a positive impact on anyone who is closeted and afraid." Read on. [h/t The Atlantic Wire]

Jesuit Francis X. Clooney, who is meditating on the Yoga Sutras for Lent, has a gentle but pointed pushback
that notes just a couple of the places Frank goes off the rails. Bonus:
it’s not just about Catholicism. - See more at:
http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/27/wednesdays-religion-news-roundup-benedicts-addio-dolan-and-obama-chaste-faiths/#sthash.MX9ov1iQ.dpuf

York Times columnist Frank Bruni this week wrote that priestly celibacy is pretty much the reason for everything bad
that has ever happened in the church, and maybe anywhere. Jesuit
Francis X. Clooney, who is meditating on the Yoga Sutras for Lent, has a
gentle but pointed pushback
that notes just a couple of the places Frank goes off the rails. Bonus:
it’s not just about Catholicism. - See more at:
http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/27/wednesdays-religion-news-roundup-benedicts-addio-dolan-and-obama-chaste-faiths/#sthash.MX9ov1iQ.dpuf

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni this week wrote that priestly celibacy is pretty much the reason for everything bad
that has ever happened in the church, and maybe anywhere. Jesuit
Francis X. Clooney, who is meditating on the Yoga Sutras for Lent, has a
gentle but pointed pushback
that notes just a couple of the places Frank goes off the rails. Bonus:
it’s not just about Catholicism. - See more at:
http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/27/wednesdays-religion-news-roundup-benedicts-addio-dolan-and-obama-chaste-faiths/#sthash.MX9ov1iQ.dpuf

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni this week wrote that priestly celibacy is pretty much the reason for everything bad
that has ever happened in the church, and maybe anywhere. Jesuit
Francis X. Clooney, who is meditating on the Yoga Sutras for Lent, has a
gentle but pointed pushback
that notes just a couple of the places Frank goes off the rails. Bonus:
it’s not just about Catholicism. - See more at:
http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/27/wednesdays-religion-news-roundup-benedicts-addio-dolan-and-obama-chaste-faiths/#sthash.MX9ov1iQ.dpuf

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni this week wrote that priestly celibacy is pretty much the reason for everything bad
that has ever happened in the church, and maybe anywhere. Jesuit
Francis X. Clooney, who is meditating on the Yoga Sutras for Lent, has a
gentle but pointed pushback
that notes just a couple of the places Frank goes off the rails. Bonus:
it’s not just about Catholicism. - See more at:
http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/27/wednesdays-religion-news-roundup-benedicts-addio-dolan-and-obama-chaste-faiths/#sthash.MX9ov1iQ.dpuf

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni this week wrote that priestly celibacy is pretty much the reason for everything bad
that has ever happened in the church, and maybe anywhere. Jesuit
Francis X. Clooney, who is meditating on the Yoga Sutras for Lent, has a
gentle but pointed pushback
that notes just a couple of the places Frank goes off the rails. Bonus:
it’s not just about Catholicism. - See more at:
http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/27/wednesdays-religion-news-roundup-benedicts-addio-dolan-and-obama-chaste-faiths/#sthash.MX9ov1iQ.dpuf

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni this week wrote that priestly celibacy is pretty much the reason for everything bad
that has ever happened in the church, and maybe anywhere. Jesuit
Francis X. Clooney, who is meditating on the Yoga Sutras for Lent, has a
gentle but pointed pushback
that notes just a couple of the places Frank goes off the rails. Bonus:
it’s not just about Catholicism. - See more at:
http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/27/wednesdays-religion-news-roundup-benedicts-addio-dolan-and-obama-chaste-faiths/#sthash.MX9ov1iQ.dpuf

• Are you living in an elitist bubble? ... [BigThink] Take the quiz. Here.

• Evangelical megapastor, author, and television writer Rob Bell
publicly expressed support for marriage equality Sunday, mincing few
words as he offered a scathing critique of American evangelicalism. Speaking before an assembled crowd at Grace Cathedral, an Episcopal
church in San Francisco, Bell, an avowed evangelical who has been called
the “heir to Billy Graham,” responded to a question about his personal
views on same-sex marriage with a firm endorsement of the right to
marry. Read on.

• You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay ... [Bill Lewellis]
Dr. Aaron Kelley (former emergency physician with Lehigh Valley Health
Network), his wife Stephanie and their four young children left about
six weeks ago for a two-year stint in Tenwek Hospital, Kenya. They are
evangelical volunteers with World Mission. On March 14, their infant
daughter died of a brain tumor, diagnosed only the day before. Their
faith anchors an incredibly inspiring story told through his and her blogs. They are back home as we speak, for a while. [h/t Milton Carrero, writing at the Morning Call health blog.]

Roman Catholic• Major sex abuse uncovered in Joliet diocese ... [Chicago Tribune] The Joliet Diocese readily admitted that David Rudofski was sexually
abused during his first confession at St. Mary Catholic Church in
Mokena. It offered him an in-person apology from the bishop and more
than six times his annual salary in the hope of putting a quick, quiet
end to yet another ugly incident involving a priest. But Rudofski wanted more than money. The south suburban electrician wanted the diocese to truly pay for
its repeated and, oftentimes, willful mishandling of sexual abuse cases
involving clergy — and he insisted on a currency far more precious to
the church than money. He demanded that the diocese settle its debt by
turning over the secret archives it maintained on abusive priests and
making them available for public consumption. Read on.

• Letter by letter, keeping a Catholic outpost alive ... [NYTimes] In late February, two weeks into Lent, 80-year-old Brother Norbert Karpfinger sat down to write a letter, one of hundreds he writes seeking donations for a Catholic daycare center, the sanctuary on any given
day for about 60 children. Decades ago, St. Adalbert was one of 14
Catholic parishes in East St. Louis. Now, there is one. Read on.

• Adware Trojan Targets OS X Systems ... [SANS, March 20] The Yontoo Trojan horse program installs a plug-in that displays fraudulent advertisements on web pages. Yontoo targets computers running Mac OS X. It spreads by disguising itself as a media player, a video quality enhancement tool, and a download accelerator. The installer asks users if they want to install an app called Free Twit Tube. If usersclick yes, the Trojan is downloaded onto their computers and the malware monitors their web browsing and through a remote server, injects the ads onto the sites they visit. Yontoo is being classified as a Trojan because it uses trickery and disguises to become installed. [h/t Kat Lehman]

• Free File
... If your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is $57,000 or less, you may
qualify to use a brand name tax software to prepare and e-file your
taxes for free. Answer a few questions on IRS.gov to help you determine your eligibility to use Free File tax software. If your AGI is more than $57,000, you can still use Free File fillable forms for your federal tax return. Learn more about Free File for all taxpayers.

• Quick Tips for Better Video ... [Diocese of Colorado] Written by Alex Haralson, Youth Coordinator, who has a background in video production. Download the pdf here.

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